Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel pipe of an aircraft, and to an aircraft including the fuel pipe.
Description of the Related Art
Fuel of an aircraft is supplied from a storage space inside a main wing to an engine and an auxiliary power unit through a fuel pipe (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-172368).
The fuel pipe is typically made of an aluminum alloy, as with members frequently used in an aircraft in terms of weight.
The fuel pipe that supplies the fuel to the auxiliary power unit mounted on a rear end of a fuselage is arranged from a trailing edge of the main wing to the auxiliary power unit through inside of the fuselage.
The fuel pipe is arranged not only in a pressurized section in which air conditioning is performed with use of bleed air from an engine, but also in a non-pressurized section. When the air in the non-pressurized section is cooled by cold outside air at higher altitudes, the temperature of the fuel in the fuel pipe that passes through the non-pressurized section is lowered. Typically, management of fuel temperature is also necessary to secure required performance of the power unit using the fuel.
An object of the present invention is to provide a fuel pipe of an aircraft that makes it possible to maintain temperature of the fuel in the fuel pipe at appropriate temperature while giving consideration to reliability that is constantly required for the aircraft, and to provide an aircraft including the fuel pipe.